brewing really high quality beer

I am a noob brewer,and have only bottled 2 batches to date,and have 1 in the primary both brews were drinkable but had a distant taste that I cant describe although the taste was similar in both brews,one was a holiday ale and 1 was an octoberfest,both brewers best kits,my question is what is the secret to making commercial quality micro brew? I am fermenting in plastic, should it be glass? does it matter? partial boil is what I am doing is it ok? I am following directions to the t ,all readings come out proper I am drinking the brew after 1 month primary 2 weeks in bottle is this wrong?any advice would be appreciated

Time, Temperature, Sanitation, Patience. Plastic is fine. Partial boils are fine. Biggest leap my beers made was when I was able to control the fermentation temperature. BIG improvement there.

The off taste may be from the extract. Did you use LME or DME? LME can produce an off taste.

and +1 to
Time, Temperature, Sanitation, Patience. Plastic is fine. Partial boils are fine. Biggest leap my beers made was when I was able to control the fermentation temperature. BIG improvement there.
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The 2 biggest factors that helped my beer improve were:

1) Yeast - pitching at the proper rate for the type of yeast and SG of my brew.
2) Temperature - proper temperature control during the fermentation process.

This is where I would start. There is tons of info in this forum to help you control these factors. Remember that brewing great beer is a matter of controlling variables. The better control you have of those variables the better beer you will produce.

I am using lme

2 weeks in the bottle is a probably a little early to be worrying about subtle flavor issues. 3 weeks should be the minimum and even then some styles can taste a little "green" and just need some more time to mellow out / develop flavors.

Are you using tap water? My first 8 brews or so had a distinct plasticky of flavor that came from the chlorine in my city water. Try using bottled or filtered water for your top up portion. The boil should take care of the rest. You can great beer from LME.

• All grain.
• Full boils.
• Secondary clearing tank with fining agent.

That did it for me.

luvinit said:

,my question is what is the secret to making commercial quality micro brew?

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There is no secret. It's the brewer. There are no robot brewers (although that sounds pretty cool come to think of it). Your beer will improve as you learn. You can speed up the process by reading more and brewing more often.

beer making robot link: The Bender Beer Brewer

BamaRooster said:

The 2 biggest factors that helped my beer improve were:

1) Yeast - pitching at the proper rate for the type of yeast and SG of my brew.
2) Temperature - proper temperature control during the fermentation process.

This is where I would start. There is tons of info in this forum to help you control these factors. Remember that brewing great beer is a matter of controlling variables. The better control you have of those variables the better beer you will produce.

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^this. Pitch rates and temp are crucial. Time can also be your best friend when it comes to a beer. I find mine taste best after clearing in PRIMARY and 4 weeks in bottles, or two weeks in a keg.

All grain
Pure O2 and Yeast pitch rates
Fermentation Temp
Foil Boils (better hop utilization and less kettle caramelization)

I am only 3 batches in, but I think you're getting ahead of yourself.

This is copied and pasted from another thread (Oh dear lord- I'm becoming Revvy) but I don't want to have to type it all out again. Everything is as true as the first time I posted it:

You asked what the best thing for making good beer: #1 most important thing is FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE. The temperature in your beer can be as much as 10F above ambient, so you need to be actively cooling your beer. My climate is dry so I can get away with a fan pointed at a wet towel wrapped around my fermentor, but something fancier like a fermentation chamber would be nice if you feel like comitting the DIY time or spending a bit of cash. You can also do it on the cheap in high humidity with a muckbucket and frozen 2L bottles of water surrounding your beer. Regardless of what yeast say their "range" is on the package or instructions, ale yeasts should be low-mid 60s (F) for clean beer. Certain ales that take their major flavor from yeast, like hefeweizens or saisons can be fermented warmer, and certain strains like Nottingham english ale yeast prefer temps between 56-60F.

The next thing after that (fermentation temperatures are still #1. They'd be #0 if I had my way, though, it's that important) is pitching the correct number of healthy yeast into your beer. You'll have to some research on yeast starters, but they are super easy, and you don't need a stir plate contrary to popular belief, but you can get one if you like (it just means you can make less starter). Basically, you make a smallish beer and add your yeast to that. Grow them up to the correct amount (see mrmalty.com) for a day or two and then refrigerate them at least overnight to drop the yeast out of suspension. On brew day, pour off the clear liquid on top of your yeast, and warm the yeast up to pitching temperature (fermentation temperature) and add when ready.

Do those two things, and your beer will go from "meh" to "holy balls, that's good beer!"

1000% agreement on yeast pitching rates and ferment temps!

Aside from obvious issues (chlorinated water, high mineral content, etc) I think that good and consistent measurements of weight and volulme is very important. If you are priming what you think is 5 gallons but in reality is 4.25 you could have over-carbed beer or your gravity readings can be wayyy off too!

Just a thought anyway!

I asked myself those same questions a few years ago. Finding the answers has been a wonderful (and expensive) journey, but beware once you find the answers you will have more questions.

For me:

#1 difference was fermentation temperature control

#2 difference was pitching HEALTHY yeast, a stir plate helps tremendously here

BamaRooster said:

The 2 biggest factors that helped my beer improve were:

1) Yeast - pitching at the proper rate for the type of yeast and SG of my brew.
2) Temperature - proper temperature control during the fermentation process.

This is where I would start. There is tons of info in this forum to help you control these factors. Remember that brewing great beer is a matter of controlling variables. The better control you have of those variables the better beer you will produce.

Click to expand...

Took the words out of my mouth, except that I'd rank Temperature #1 and Yeast #2 - only because in my situation I had more temperature control issues when I first started.

o.k. thanx everyone yeast and ferment temp seem to be the most important things here,,,I have a small fridge that I can modify and throw a honeywell temp control in would this be suitable for ferment temp control ..although my basement this time of year is a pretty steady 65 degrees

luvinit said:

o.k. thanx everyone yeast and ferment temp seem to be the most important things here,,,I have a small fridge that I can modify and throw a honeywell temp control in would this be suitable for ferment temp control ..although my basement this time of year is a pretty steady 65 degrees

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The fridge is a better option. During active fermentation, beer can be up to 10F warmer than the ambient temperature- 75 would be plenty warm to mess up your beer. I always thought that sounded a little like an exaggeration meant to scare new brewers until I actually took the temperature of a beer at high krausen. I had the AC on full blast (for the beer, of course) and it was 60F in my house- the beer was 71. Now I make sure that my BEER is always right around 62.